Blues Etudes – Position 3: “A Shape”

On to the 3rd installment as we get even further out harmonically… Taking a teaspoon of inspiration from the lines of John Coltrane, we work in a few “Giant Steps” to get out of the basic blues harmony and back in smoothly. This etude is also a tricky practice in switching between swing 8th notes and 8th note triplets. In the final lines, we also work in a few quarter note triplets. There’s plenty of half-whole diminished scale in here, and this time the Mini Lesson PDF includes comping ideas as well – use the half-whole diminished scale to easily grab some clusters of notes that fit perfectly in altered harmony. Make your turnarounds SMOKE!

The point of this etude series is to learn each of the five positions fluently. In the end, you will have a far better understanding of the whole fretboard. And may start to show signs of raving guitar insanity.

Visit out “Mini Lessons” section to pick up the tabs and backing tracks to any of these lessons.